Signing you in

P Nijanthi, from Thottappanayakkanur near Usilampatti in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, had completed Class 10 in her village and joined the Government Kallar Higher Secondary School at nearby Poochipatti for Class 11. But she did not want to continue there. After attending school for about 20 days, she stopped going.

Her mother, P Thavamani, later told police that Nijanthi said she did not like the Science Group she had been assigned and wanted, instead, to study a nursing-related group. She remained at home for about a month before telling her mother that she would study seriously, provided she were admitted to another school.

On August 24, Thavamani took her daughter to a school in Usilampatti where they were asked to pay Rs 5,000. Thavamani did not have the amount on her then and said she would return in two days.

While waiting at the old bus stand, someone from their village suggested they try the Government Model Higher Secondary School in Usilampatti, where the admission expense might be lower. Mother and daughter went there the very same day.

What happened inside the headmistress’s room is now at the centre of a criminal case.

According to Thavamani’s complaint, recorded in the FIR, the headmistress asked Nijanthi where she had studied Class 10 and then telephoned the head of her former school. When Nijanthi’s name was mentioned, the former head teacher, speaking over the phone on speaker mode, described her as disciplined and academically good.

As Thavamani spoke to the headmistress, she stood with her hands folded — a common gesture of deference in many institutional encounters. Nijanthi, watching her mother, tapped her hands down. The gesture lasted perhaps only a moment. But according to the complaint, the headmistress objected.

“Why? What is your problem if your mother answers with her hands folded?” she allegedly asked Nijanthi, before staring at her and allegedly speaking in an angry tone. Thavamani told police that the headmistress then accused her daughter of arrogance, suggesting that she must have behaved similarly in the past and that this was perhaps why she had been made to leave her earlier school. She then allegedly told the girl to “get out”.

Nijanthi ran from the school. Her mother said she walked for around five kilometres, as far as Nallamallapatti. Thavamani took a two-wheeler of someone she knew, went after her daughter, found her along the road and brought her home in an autorickshaw. That night, according to the complaint, Nijanthi did not eat and remained distressed.

The next day, August 25, Thavamani went to work at a garment store in Idayapatti. She returned home at about 5.30 pm and found the bedroom door locked. She knocked repeatedly but received no response. A neighbour boy came and broke the door open. Inside, Nijanthi was found dead.

In her complaint, Thavamani told police that she suspected the headmistress of the Government Model Higher Secondary School was responsible for her daughter’s death and asked for a thorough investigation and legal action.

Police later booked the school headmistress, identified as Vimala Devi, under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for alleged abetment of suicide. On Sunday, investigators altered the FIR again and invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said. Nijanthi was a Dalit student.

There are moments in a life that appear small to everyone except the person inhabiting them. For Nijanthi, police are now investigating whether the encounter at the school became such a moment.